The Redemption Project

Brandon Burley

The Redemption Project is an award-winning podcast recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Awards as Best Podcast of 2025. Hosted by Brandon Burley, TRP tells redemption stories, explains civic systems clearly, hosts fair public conversations and highlights people doing good work in Tennessee and beyond. Across its seasons, the show explores second chances, faith, government, economics, criminal justice, elections, leadership and the public systems shaping everyday life. The goal is simple: clarity over outrage, understanding over tribalism and

  1. 2d ago

    TRP S2E12: Redemption Story — Chad Roberts: From Meth, Prison and Brokenness to Ministry

    Chad Roberts joins The Redemption Project for a Season 2 Redemption Story about childhood brokenness, addiction, crime, incarceration, faith, treatment and what it means to become the kind of man he once needed. Chad grew up in a home where drugs, violence and spiritual darkness were part of his early life. He says his father introduced him to marijuana and alcohol when he was young, and by his teenage years, Chad was selling drugs, using meth and eventually manufacturing it. His life moved through addiction, arrests, jail, broken relationships, fatherhood, military service, relapse and a long pattern of running until he says he had nothing left. But Chad’s story does not end there. After a series of arrests, court cases and spiritual breaking points, Chad entered treatment, rebuilt his life through faith and began helping other men in recovery. He now works with a men’s recovery program, is pursuing counseling certification in Georgia and speaks openly about the mentors, pastors and father figures God placed in his life when he needed them most. This conversation is about more than getting sober. It is about generational brokenness, accountability, discipleship, fatherhood, tough love, second chances and the long road from survival to service. This is a story about what happens when a man who once helped spread destruction becomes part of someone else’s recovery. The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

    53 min
  2. May 22

    TRP S4E13: Civic Conversations — Civil Miller-Watkins, U.S. Senate Candidate

    Civil Miller-Watkins joins The Redemption Project for a Season 4 Civic Conversations episode about her campaign for the U.S. Senate, her background as an eighth grade math teacher, and the issues she believes Tennessee families are carrying to the kitchen table. Miller-Watkins lives in Fayette County in rural West Tennessee and describes her campaign through the lens of education, family, health care access, jobs, rural hospitals, student safety and the future facing Tennessee’s children and grandchildren. In the conversation, she discusses her family’s history in politics and civil rights, her time serving on the school board, her experience reading budgets and writing policy, and why she believes representation should include rural Tennesseans, young people, working families and communities that may not always feel heard. The conversation also covers school safety, common-sense gun policy, whether elected officials can be both leaders and representatives, how candidates should reach outside their usual echo chambers, and why she uses the phrase “your vote is your voice.” Miller-Watkins argues that civic participation begins one voter at a time, and that voting shapes everything from schools and jobs to health care, roads, public safety and local quality of life. This episode is part of TRP’s Civic Conversations season, where candidates and public figures are given space to explain how they think, what they prioritize and how they would approach public service. The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

    39 min
5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

The Redemption Project is an award-winning podcast recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Awards as Best Podcast of 2025. Hosted by Brandon Burley, TRP tells redemption stories, explains civic systems clearly, hosts fair public conversations and highlights people doing good work in Tennessee and beyond. Across its seasons, the show explores second chances, faith, government, economics, criminal justice, elections, leadership and the public systems shaping everyday life. The goal is simple: clarity over outrage, understanding over tribalism and